Small Skies
by Kairaita
Summary: The worlds may all share the same sky, but no one ever said they had to share the same destiny. A series of mostly unconnected oneshots. 8 - Tears: BBS Spoilers; They're gone and there's nothing Aqua can do to stop it.
1. Implications

**Major Spoilers for 358/2 Days.**

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"Who…am I? What am I here for?" Xion whispered, her eyes still screwed shut as the nightmares continued. Her hand curled into a fist, then relaxed again.

Riku shifted uncomfortably. He really wasn't used to dealing with this kind of situation, much less having to hold a girl in his arms. For all his fantasies about moments with Kairi and hoping and hoping, of course it had never actually happened. Which was why he was here feeling slightly stupid.

_I did call her a sham… But DiZ said that's what she is, a replica of Sora. …If Sora was a girl, anyway._ _Except she looks like Kairi, from Sora's memories. _

He jumped slightly as Xion moved, but she was still unconscious. Much as he was embarrassed to admit it, his arms were getting numb from holding the girl up for so long, although she was as light as a feather. "You're as lazy as Sora." Riku said, remembering how he found Sora sleeping when they were supposed to be building the raft. The lines of his mouth tightened as the next memory washed over him, the Heartless, the _darkness-_

_Not going there, I already picked my road._

The next moment happened very fast. Maybe it was because he needed a distraction, something, _anything_ from thoughts of the islands, maybe it was because Xion convulsed suddenly again, an arm flying out to grip his coat as if she would never let go and pulling him down, but Riku suddenly found that he was _kissing_ Xion.

And he was suddenly grateful for that, laughing inwardly. Here he was, holding a replica of his best friend and kissing her. The worlds must be going mad.

…A replica of his best friend. A replica of Sora, who looked nothing like him but everything like Kairi, but still his very best friend.

Did that technically make him kissing _Sora_?

Awkward and horrified and shocked were understatements for the situation as Riku realized this implication. He dropped Xion ungracefully from his arms, which thankfully weren't far from the ground.

When Xion finally woke up, she was confused as to why Riku was crouched over the edge of the small island, throwing up.

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**No offense meant to any supporters of either pairing, it was just a really random thought.**


	2. Shower

It was a day like any other in The World That Never Was. Demyx procrastinating on missions, Larxene shooing everyone away with her knives, Luxord planning yet another poker game, and so on.

It was a day like any other in The World That Never Was. Until the shower started.

* * *

_Plop._

Roxas blinked and looked up as something hit him on the head. Was it raining _inside_ the castle? Another _plop_ joined the first, hitting him in the eye this time and bouncing to the floor. He crouched down to get a better look at it, and it definitely didn't look like a raindrop. More like the hearts that came out of the Heartless when he hit them with the keyblade. Except these were much smaller, and had words on them.

"'Be Mine'." he read out loud, frowning. What did that mean? Roxas glanced at the other tiny heart. "…'Marry Me'."

"Yo, Roxas." A familiar voice sounded behind him, boots hitting the floor with muffled thumps. Axel gave a quizzical glance at his friend. "What are you doing on the ground?"

"Axel, what does 'Marry Me' mean?"

* * *

"This is _not_ amusing." Saïx hissed, as more brightly colored candies fell throughout the castle. His hand twitched, as if he wanted to summon his claymore and reduce all the candy hearts to powder.

"Hey X-Face, betcha wish these were real hearts!" Demyx gave his usual face-splitting grin, catching some of the candy and popping them into his mouth. "Man, these are _good_."

The next candy Demyx caught was suddenly shot into oblivion, leaving only a faint trail of smoke. Xigbar dropped down from the ceiling, grinning like a maniac. "Finally, some decent target practice. Hey Demyx, you'd better run!"

* * *

"The Dusks seem to be reacting to this phenomenon with unusual excitement." Zexion noted calmly, not looking up once from his Lexicon. Behind him, a pile of candy was quickly accumulating more and more "hearts", as the Dusks continued gleefully (in a manner of speaking) toss them in. A second pile was started next to the first one, which was now about the height of Lexaeus, who stood next to it. The Silent Hero was silent as usual, although his expression seemed faintly amused.

"Fascinating! So these lesser Nobodies are attracted to anything remotely heart-shaped?" Vexen scribbled down notes on a clipboard, watching the Dusks scramble about. "Do you suppose they would go after those horrible pink plants that Marluxia insists on infesting the castle with…?"

* * *

"Kingdom Hearts." Xemnas began, and then frowned as a candy heart hit him on the head. "Kingdom Hearts, soon you will be-" he attempted to start again, but more and more candy bounced off his head like they were going out of style. Xemnas growled in frustration, then smoothly reverted to his emotionless state. "Soon you will be complete."

_Plop_.

* * *

**Happy Valentine's Day!**


	3. Manners

"If you see Cindrella, thank her for me." Terra said, nodding to Aqua before turning around and starting to walk away.

"I didn't think you were the romantic type." Aqua commented dryly, a smile spreading across her face.

"Wh-what!?" Terra stopped in his tracks, turning around again to face Aqua with a glare. "There is absolutely nothing going on between me and her!"

"Oh, don't give me that look," The blue haired Keyblade Master walked over to Terra, flicking him in the forehead in a teasing gesture. "I saw how you bowed to her in the main hall. It was surprising to see you be so nice for a change. And with manners."

Terra rolled his eyes dramatically. "What are you talking about? I've always had good manners. Am I not allowed to be nice all of a sudden?"

Aqua tapped her chin thoughtfully, with only a slightly mischievous grin present in her eyes and face. "Well then, _Sir_ Terra, why don't you show me just how good your manners are?" Of course she had only meant to make sure Terra wouldn't fall into darkness, but how could Aqua resist talking with him like old times? Before the entire Master Qualification Exam fiasco. They were supposed to graduate _together_.

Terra raised an eyebrow. It was a bit strange to talk to Aqua like this, as an equal, even though she was the one who was a fully qualified Master right now. But his pride wouldn't allow him to resist such a challenge. Terra turned to face Aqua completely, and gave a stiff bow to her, not unlike his earlier one. "There, happy?"

"Hmm, I think you can do better than that." Aqua flicked him on the forehead again and gracefully stepped backwards out of reach, before he could retaliate with a poke of his own.

"Well, _excuse_ me, _Princess_ Aqua." Terra folded his arms, feigning annoyance. Of course, he was far from actually being annoyed.

An idea suddenly struck him, and he grinned. "Give me your hand."

"What?" Aqua was caught off-guard by the sudden request, her blue eyes wide and alert.

"You heard me, give me your hand."

Aqua narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Terra, if this is some kind of prank…"

"It's not, I promise." Terra extended his hand to her, still grinning. Aqua regarded him suspiciously, but relented and placed her own hand in his.

Faster than she thought possible, Terra raised their connected hands and pressed his lips to the back of hers in one quick and smooth motion. Just as quickly, he dropped her hand and backed away into another bow, this one much more exaggerated than before. He straightened up, laughing.

"T-Terra!" Aqua was blushing more furiously than she had ever thought possible. Was it even possible to get to this shade of red? "W-what was that-"

"How's that for manners? Don't tell me you've never wanted to try that." Still laughing, Terra turned around and started to walk away again, out of the castle. "I'll see you around, Aqua."

Moments after he left, Aqua smiled, her blush completely gone. She pulled out her star charm, closing her fingers around it in a reverent gesture. "I've wanted to try it for a long time."


	4. Tribute

More than anything else at the moment, she wants to cry.

But the tears don't come.

She's always been the rational one. The calm one. The one who always knew exactly what to do, as much as Terra was always the confident ringleader of their group and Ven was always around to light up the room with a smile.

Except…she's nothing without them.

In a silent moment of tribute for both of her best friends, Aqua stabs Eraqus' Keyblade into the soft sand and kneels down, listening to the sound of waves wash over the dark beach.

There aren't any stars.


	5. Waiting

He's been waiting too long.

Anyone would lose count, but he's sure it's been years, years upon years of waiting in an abandoned graveyard. Too many years. And if there's one thing he's learned from this, it's the feeling of despair.

There's nothing but the sound of the wind- _he wishes Ven was here _smiling _-_and if he listens closely enough, he can hear- _imaginary _-waves splashing softly in the distance- _a thousand words he would never be able to say to Aqua -_because he's just an empty shell in an empty world he can't even hear the sound of his own breathing-_he's not breathing at all_.

Terra used to think that he was the hero.

Now he knows that he's just always been waiting for one.


	6. Dreams

_Friends… Friends… Friends…_

"_We'll always be friends."_

His dreams are weird and bizarre, the strangest things that he's ever seen, as well as dreams that were completely mundane. But one dream sticks out.

There are three people. They look familiar, but he doesn't recognize them. Even so, he feels like he's known them for his whole life.

"_Can I become part of your heart again?"_

"_If that makes you happy!"_

There's only one thing he knows, and only one person's name sticks out. Sora.

Sora. Sora. Sora.

One of them is tall and has spiky brown hair. But it's not as spiky as his own, if he says so himself. _Terra. Terra. Terra._

Sora. Sora. Sor-

The other one's a girl with bright blue hair. Okay, she was pretty, he'll admit that. And maybe a bit more than that. _Aqua. Aqua. Aqua._

Sora. _Ven_. Sora.

_Friends… Friends… Friends…_

The third person looks like-

_Ven._

Suddenly, he's not dreaming anymore.

_Ven._

"Are you awake?"


	7. Laugh

Lea idly tapped his foot. How long had it been, an hour or something? He didn't know how Isa could just stand there and listen to the psycho silver-haired man, who definitely seemed like bad news. Besides, his neck was getting really sore from staring up at those damned high chairs.

It had been surprising to see anyone else after the shadow things had come, but Lea was even more vaguely surprised that they were all from Radiant Garden. Weren't they all from the castle? There was that mute kid, who still looked short nevertheless. There were those two guards who'd thrown him and Isa out from the castle when they tried to sneak in, that one blond guy in a lab coat who was always yelling at them, and a creepy looking man with _one_ bright yellow eye, an eye-patch over the other, and one nasty scar over his face.

"…And so, today is a momentous day." The silver-haired man (What was his name, Mansex or something? Lea couldn't quite remember, but he didn't think he really wanted to. He liked his version better.) spoke slowly and deliberately to the seven other people in the room. "We will welcome two additions to our Organization."

The man turned his head down to look at Isa. "You will be known as Number VII, Saïx …The Luna Diviner."

Lea suppressed a laugh. Was this guy intentionally trying to be melodramatic? Because it wasn't working. Sounding stupid, yes. Threatening or scary? Hell no. But besides that, the jokes for Isa/ Saïx/whatever were endless now. Loony Diviner indeed.

Saïx/Isa stepped back, motioning for Lea to go forward. With slight apprehension, Lea stepped up, feeling like he was standing on the very edge of the Radiant Garden clock tower. And by the way, the bright yellow eyes the guy had were just the _tiniest_ bit creepy. Lea could feel those creepy eyes scan over him in a way he really didn't like. "You will be known as Number VIII, Axel."

Somehow, he just couldn't bite back a witty response. "You're naming me after a freakin' _car part_?" Lea had seen pictures of cars before, in books. No matter what Axel/Lea/whatever his name was now had said before about wanting to be in lots of people's memories, being remembered as a part of an automobile was far too degrading. Axel saw Saïx give a small smirk, as if he'd just cracked another stupid joke and they were getting sea-salt ice cream. There was a cough from the other people behind them, even a slight chuckle.

But the man up in the really ridiculously high chair right now chose to ignore him. Well, that was lame. The _grey-_haired man continued without any sign of being interrupted. "…The Flurry of Dancing Flames."

That did it. Axel doubled over and _laughed_, he laughed harder than he had in ages. The still empty-looking white room echoed with the sound of his laughter. _Dancing_ Flames? _Really_? Lea had never been one for dancing, and Axel wouldn't start now.

There was a sound of amusement from the one-eyed guy, but the rest of them stared blankly. Well, more like _glared_, really. Glared blankly, like zombies. Somehow. Whatever. Not that it mattered, anyway.

Axel finally straightened up and caught Saïx's eyes, grinning at his friend.

To his surprise, Saïx, no, _Isa_ was giving one of his rare genuine smiles back at _Lea_.


	8. Tears

**Followup to _Tribute._**

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_**

She didn't cry, because it would simply be a waste of water and salt, necessary for survival.

Tears hadn't brought Master Eraqus back.

Tears wouldn't wake Ven up.

Tears didn't stop Terra from thinking he had to do everything himself, because she still remembers that desperate _look_ in his eyes, the look of someone who had nothing left to lose.

Tears don't do anything.

So she doesn't cry.

But maybe, she thinks, once she's heard of a boy with a Keyblade, someone who can save them all (as cliché as that sounds because after all is said and done, _where did that get them_?), someone who has enough light in his heart to share with all the worlds.

Maybe it's okay to cry with tears of joy, because it makes the little insignificant light of hope at the end of the tunnel glow just a bit brighter.


End file.
